Holbox, Q.R. — Numerous dump trucks have arrived on the island of Holbox to deal with the town’s garbage removal.
Approximately 20 dump trucks will be responsible for removing 280 tons of garbage each week from the solid waste site on this island. The landfill has become saturated, even with repeated burns to eliminate the overflowing mound of waste.
Roberto Reynoso Sepúlveda of Eco-V, the company concessioned to handle the island’s garbage, says that “It’s a problem from 11 years ago for which the place is practically an open-air garbage dump, but thanks to the work of organizations and hoteliers, it is being corrected.”
At the beginning of the year, the municipal government concessioned the company to handle the garbage, while also implementing a garbage collection fee to islanders.
While the work is headed by Eco-V, the dump trucks being provided are from la Federación Sindical de Obreros y Campesinos. Rene Correa Moguel, head of la Federación Sindical de Obreros y Campesinos, said that the plan is to take advantage of their dump trucks, which commonly go to Holbox. On their way back to the mainland, the trucks are loaded with Holbox garbage and taken to the landfill in Kantunilkín.
“When a tipping unit enters the island to leave construction material, immediately afterward it will go to the transfer site to be loaded with waste by a machine so we can remove it. With the support of the ferry company Holbox Express, the transport is free,” he said.
Reynoso Sepúlveda estimates there is 75,000 tons of garbage sitting in the site that needs to be removed by the end of the year.
